The invention relates to method and apparatus for effecting long running, two edge cuts from roll material; more particularly, it relates to method and apparatus for a gore cutter. The invention also relates to method and apparatus for effecting long running, multiple edge cuts from roll material; more particularly, it relates to method and apparatus for a flat bed single direction cutter.
There is currently considerable renewed interest in high altitude balloons as a low-cost alternative to costly orbital labs. In fact a new generation of so-called superpressure balloons or ULD (for Ultra Long Duration) balloons is in the works. Such balloons, some expected to be 600+ feet high, would float to the very edge of the earth""s atmosphere to remain aloft up to 100 days. It is believed that NASA will employ such balloons for such task as searching out planets in other solar systems, or black holes and remnants of the Big Bang or to map distant X-ray sources.
While high-altitude balloons have been flown since the 1950""s, there was always a serious drawback: as a balloon rises, the sun""s heat expands the buoyancy gas, and helium has to be vented to keep the balloon from exploding. Then, as the sun sets and the gases contract, ballast has to be dropped to keep it aloft. Missions with such balloons rarely lasted for more than one or two days.
Now, in part due to new ultrathin composite polyester and polyethylene skin material, the new balloons are expected withstand pressures created by stratospheric solar heating and still retain enough helium to circle the globe five to 10 times per mission. In further significant part however, it is believed that shaping the balloons to more or less look like large transparent pumpkins will give the balloon additional expansion and contraction tolerance to withstand the above described phenomena. This xe2x80x98pumpkinxe2x80x99 shape concept requires that the balloon skin material be cut in long (as much as 600+ feet long or more) gores that are precisely cut along both edges according to mathematical calculations that vary depending on the balloon""s overall desired configuration, and on the anticipated position of the gore itself in the assembled structure. The gores are assembled into lobes, that in turn make up the pumpkin. Conventional cutting methods and machinery are inadequate to rapidly and precisely cut and produce such gores, especially at a cost effective price.
In addition, conventional laser material cutters require movement in both the x axis and the y axis to cut complex shapes from the material. Typically, material is fed in the x direction, while a cutting head is moved in the y direction, and the combination of their movements is controlled in both positive and negative directions (forward and back) to cut the desired shape. Typically also, the mount on which the cutting head sits must also be moveable in the x direction. These machines are complex, costly, and require relatively slow material feed speeds.
What is needed is a high speed cutter with relatively stationery cutting head gantry and multiple heads on a gantry and hi speed x direction material feed. Conventional cutting methods and machinery are inadequate to rapidly and precisely cut and produce such shapes, especially at a cost effective price.